Pouring Grease Down Sink Leads to Sewage Spill

Improper disposal of grease was a contributing factor to a sewage spill in Hillsborough on Friday.

Will Baker, Assistant Utilities Director for the Town of Hillsborough, says grease is a major problem for municipalities across the country.

“Grease is one of the biggest problems Anytown, USA, has with a sewer system,” he says. “That’s something we’re trying to work on with educating the public.”

He says it important to properly dispose of that grease to ensure that these pipes do not get clogged and cause backups in the sewer system.

“Let’s say you just had you a big ole’ pan of some bacon, and you’ve got that bacon grease left over,” Baker says, “If you’ve got an old can…put that cooled down grease in it. And when it gets full, just throw that away in the garbage.”

Another contributing factor to the clog, according to Baker, is residents flushing things down the toilet, including dental floss, paper towels, and other objects that should not be flushed.

Baker adds an estimated 300 gallons of untreated sewage was discharged on Spruce Street, and it did reach a creek that is a tributary of the Eno River. But he says the sewage was heavily diluted due to the rain on Friday, and it did not cause any danger to the drinking water for the Town of Hillsborough.

Baker says workers are taking steps to ensure they have done everything possible to monitor this pipe in the future.

“We’ve also put that on our list of future lines that we’re going to have a crew come in,” he says, “they’ll put a PVC liner in that section of main where the roots had gotten into. Because, naturally, if you pull roots out of a line, there’s going to be a hole where those roots were.”

You can visit the Town of Hillsborough’s website for more information on how to properly dispose of grease to take preventative steps against spills like this happening in the future.